Ahhhh, the Flair!
The first and only time that I've seen
one of these modern beauties in real life was in Houston Texas in about
1983. I was in my early 20's as was the stove apparently and I
immediately fell in love! And that one wasn't even pink. I
was a newlywed and we were at a dinner party I think. I don't
really remember much about that day as a matter of fact I remember very
little about the 80's as a whole but that's another story. But I
do remember that stove.
It was so unique and I had never seen
anything like it. Sure, I'd seen old stoves before and even really
old stoves but nothing as incredibly glorious as this one. I
was in awe and I just wanted to play with it but that wasn't in the
cards that day. You see - the stove I saw was covered in pots and pans -
it was, after all, a dinner party and my fancy little stove was 'on
duty'. So I could only imagine the stovetop 'gliding' back and
forth and imagine it I did. How ingenious!
As I was flipping through some old
magazines I came across this ad. Memories of that day, long ago,
came flooding back. Well, at least the ones about the stove
-everything else is still as fuzzy as ever but it does give me hope that
my memory is not as bad I thought it was. Apparently it is
triggered by images. But I digress - Back to the stove. I
love this ad almost as much as I loved that stove at first sight.
Even the name is terrific. The Flair by Frigidaire! All pink
and black with little starburst covered glass, fancy knob and shiny
chrome. What a wonderful example of the industrial design of the
times.
Here it is featured in a kitchen design.
Then I found this ad so it looks like
there was some copycatting going on. I am not sure which came
first but it was such a cool design that it was sure to be copied.
The Tappan Fabulous 400 -and it looks like it came in PURPLE!
I used to think my dream kitchen would
include a massive Wolfe range but I have changed my plans. I am on
a hunt for a Flair. In pink, of course. Or maybe a Tappan
Fabulous 400 -in purple.
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11 comments:
I want a purple Tappan! How come all the kitchens I remember from the 50s had white appliances? This is NOT fair!
UPDATE!!!!
If you saw the movie Black Christmas this holiday like I did- did you notice the cameo appearance. Yep-that's right. The, um, Christmas cookies were baked up in a genuine FLAIR!!
I have a Frigidaire Fabulout 400 and need parts badly. Just do not want to replace it. It is wonderful. Anyone have any ideas?
Hard to find parts.Lynda
I am the proud owner of a Flair oven. It IS the best oven ever made (well, if it had gas burners, THEN it would be the best oven ever made). But it's so close!
I wish mine were pink.....!
I just have the standard white one.
Here is a good link to some Flair resources....
http://obviousdiversion.com/personal/frigidaire-flair/
Also, if you monitor eBay for auctions on Flairs, they come up all the time......
http://obviousdiversion.com/personal/frigidaire-flair/
Here's that link again. The other one above, is incomplete.....
http://obviousdiversion.com/personal
/frigidaire-flair/
paint it pink
http://cgi.ebay.com/1962-Frigidaire-Flair-Custom-Imperial-Stove_W0QQitemZ330203123547QQihZ014QQcategoryZ20712QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting
I just bought a 1959 Tappan 400, unfortunately not in purple. It is simple stainless but so awesome nonetheless! Thanks for that fun article!
You mentioned seeing this Flair oven for the first time in Houston, did I see at the bottom of your story it was pink or was it another color?
Oh god! Who remembers. That was the eighties and it's all kind of a blur. It could have been pink. But, hey-thanks for commenting on this old blog post because I found all my pictures were gone so I fixed that and you can see the pictures now.
Actually, the Tappan Fabulous 400 came first, and they sued GM unsuccessfully when GM brought out the Flair. THe Flair was the most popular largely because of those amazing doors, that are hinged to go up instead of out. They are magnificent -- I have a 1966 model, Aztec Copper, that I will die to keep! ANd I don't think that Tappan is purple, just a shading of the ink in the ad.
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